Campaign Finance & Elections - Campaign Finance

LWVAL Action Priority Level I (Highest) - Monitoring and action of highest priority. Major area for resource expenditures.

Click a bill to see sponsor(s), summary (including link to full text), League action and justification for that action, and progress of the bill through the legislative process.

Legend: = LWVAL's support for the legislation. = LWVAL's opposition to the legislation. = new bill activity; change from previous week's report such as new progress in the legislature and/or League action. Bill may be one newly added to the report. These updates are in green font.

Summary/Synopsis: This bill amends Section 10A-21-1.02, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to prohibited contributions by corporations to political parties, candidates, and committees. It also prohibits corporations from contributing to a political action committee.

League Acton and Justification: LWVAL supports HB200/SB155.LWVAL’s position is: “the methods of financing campaigns should ensure the public's right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office, and allow maximum citizen participation in the political process.”

Bill Progress in Legislature:HB200: 2/7/2012: First reading and referred to the

HB207 / SB157 - Elections, political contributions, limited to certain amount per election that the candidate's name is on the ballot, Sec. 17-5-8 am'd; Act 2011-697, 2011 Reg. Sess., am'd

Summary/Synopsis: This bill would amend the statute dealing with reporting of campaign finances by restricting contributions by individuals, organizations, corporations, business groups, unions and parties to a candidate to a maximum of $500 for each election in which the candidate's name is on the ballot.

League Acton and Justification: LWVAL supports HB207/SB157. LWVAL’s position is: “the methods of financing campaigns should ensure the public's right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office, and allow maximum citizen participation in the political process.”

(Note: It is unclear how this would bill mesh with Sec. 10A-21-1.02, proposed to be amended by HB200, prohibiting any contribution by a corporation.)

Bill Progress in Legislature:HB207: 2/7/2012: First reading and referred to the

HB259/SB149 - Elections, campaign finance reports include occupation and name of the employer of the contributor, Sec. 17-5-8 am'd

Summary/Synopsis: Under this bill, anyone contributing over $100 must be listed on the candidate's campaign finance report. Another requirement would be listing the individual's occupation and employer.

League Acton and Justification: LWVAL supports HB259/SB149.This would promote campaign finance transparency and should be SUPPORTED. LWVAL’s position is: “the methods of financing campaigns should ensure the public's right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office, and allow maximum citizen participation in the political process.”

Bill Progress in Legislature:HB259: 2/09/2012: First reading and referred to the

Summary/Synopsis: Under existing law, each principal campaign committee or political action committee must file reports of contributions and expenditures. Each report must be signed and filed by the elected official or on behalf of the political action committee by its chair or treasurer. The report must also be accompanied by an affidavit subscribed and sworn to by the elected official, or chair or treasurer and, if filed by a principal campaign committee, the candidate representing the committee. This bill would remove the requirement that the report be accompanied by an affidavit.

Summary/Synopsis: Under existing law, political action committees receiving funds from another political action committee for a voting advocacy operation are not required to pay an annual fee. This bill would require each political action committee receiving funds from another political action committee to aid get-out-the vote operations, voting rights advocacy, and voter education to establish separate accounts apart from the accounts whose funds are expended to candidates.This bill would require each political action committee to report its activity, separately, in accordance with current Fair Campaign Practice Act laws and to pay an annual registration fee determined on a uniform basis by the Alabama Secretary of State in consultation with the Alabama Ethics Commission. All funds received from the annual registration fee would be collected by the Alabama Secretary of State and all proceeds transferred to the Alabama Ethics Commission for funding a monitoring division within the Alabama Ethics Commission.Each political action committee which fails to file in a timely or compliant manner would be subject to a civil penalty, and a second failure would result in an increased penalty. This bill would require the Ethics Commission to report each failure to file a report, and a third failure to file would be reported to the Attorney General for criminal action.This bill would require the Alabama Ethics Commission to establish a new division to monitor each registered candidate and political action committee in accordance with the Fair Campaign Practice Act and to provide for its duties.This bill would require each candidate and campaign committee to designate an individual, or registered agent, and to provide for his or her duties and responsibilities.

4/26/2012: Read for the 2nd time and placed on the calendar; pending third reading a favorable from CCFE&E.

Note: The bill appears to be a response to the lawsuit brought by the Alabama Democratic Conference seeking a ruling that the PAC to PAC transfer law does not apply to transfers to PACs for voter service and registration efforts.